One of these six may be the next leader of Stanwood schools

STANWOOD — Students, teachers and parents will get a chance Saturday to see and hear from the six people vying to be the next superintendent of the Stanwood-Camano School District.

Candidates are set to be interviewed separately by the Board of Directors in a special daylong public meeting. Those in the community who tune in will be able offer their feedback on each hopeful through an online portal.

The school board is seeking a successor to Superintendent Jean Shumate, who has led the district since 2001 and announced in February that she would retire at the end of the school year. Her final day is June 30. She is currently the longest-tenured public schools superintendent in Snohomish County. Stanwood-Camano School District has an enrollment of roughly 4,400 students, in kindergarten through 12th grade. It operates 10 schools: five elementaries, three middle schools and two high schools.

As part of the search, directors sent out a survey asking those in the community for their views of the district’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as attributes they would like to see in the new superintendent.

On April 30, they reviewed 23 applications and winnowed the list.

“We believe the six candidates we have chosen to interview on Saturday best fit the experience, leadership style and priorities our community is looking for,” board president Natalie Hagglund said in an email. “We look forward to learning more about each one.”

Saturday’s interviews are considered preliminary. Finalists will be interviewed May 11 to 13. Each also will meet with staff and community members. The school board plans a special meeting May 14 to announce a selected candidate and on June 1 to offer that person a contract.

The goal is to have the new superintendent start work July 1. All six finalists work for school districts in Washington.

Here are the candidates in the order that they are scheduled to be interviewed Saturday. Interviews begin at 9 a.m. Each will last roughly 50 minutes. The board is slated to take an hour break at noon.

• Jay Jordan, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning in the Bellingham School District since 2018. Prior to that, he spent three years working in public schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while earning a doctorate of education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Jordan taught English and history at Marysville Pilchuk High School from 1996 to 99, and was a teacher and administrator in the Spokane and Bellingham districts from 1999 to 2015.

• Greg Schwab, assistant superintendent for secondary schools and facilities/operations in the Edmonds School District. A district employee since 2004, Schwab served 13 years as principal of Mountlake Terrace High School before becoming assistant superintendent in 2017. A former English teacher, he served as athletic director for the Camas School District (1995 to 2000) and assistant high school principal at districts in Oregon and Shoreline.

• Brian Beckley, chief information officer, in the Everett School District since 2016. Beckley worked in the Stanwood-Camano School District from 1992 to 2003, first as a teacher then as a counselor. He then served as assistant principal of Evergreen Middle School in the Everett district for three years before heading to the Arlington School District. There he served as principal of Post Middle School for four years then principal of Arlington High School from 2010 to 16.

• Deborah Rumbaugh, executive director of instructional leadership in the Highline School District in King County. Rumbaugh, who has a doctorate of education, has worked in the district since 2013. She served as principal of Pacific Middle School and executive director of human resources prior to her current role. She worked in the Auburn School District from 2003 to 10 as a science teacher and dean of students, then as assistant principal of Kentwood High School in the Kent School District from 2010 to 13.

• Patrick Hegarty, executive director for secondary education in the Mukilteo School District since 2015. Prior to that, Hegarty worked in the Shoreline School District since 1983. He started as a high school English teacher, moving into administrative posts in 1998. Hegarty, who has a doctorate of education, served as principal of Syre Elementary from 2000 to 06 and Shorecrest High School from 2006 to 15.

• John Boyd, superintendent of Quincy School District in eastern Washington since 2014. Boyd arrived from the Highline School District where he was executive director of instructional leadership from 2011 to 14. Boyd, who is fluent in Spanish, began as a department head and English language learner teacher for Seattle Public Schools from 1992 to 98. He then spent a year as assistant principal in the Edmonds School District before returning to the Seattle district where he worked as a principal from 2000 to 2011.

Following the last interview, directors plan to go into executive session for two hours to review each applicant’s qualifications. No action is expected Saturday.

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: jcornfield@heraldnet.com | @dospueblos